CLM’s Grand Day Out
Coffee. Go-karts. Beer. Bowling. I wouldn’t recommend trying it in reverse order. Odds are you wouldn’t make it to the coffee.
A couple times a year at CLM we close up shop a day early for the weekend to spend some time together away from the office. Occasionally we spend the day far from the office, but we always spend the day doing something far from anything we’d do at the office. This fall, the day’s agenda was as described above. Actually, the original agenda involved a trip to a nearby ranch to BBQ and ride some horses (ride the horses, BBQ something else), but inclement weather required the invention and implementation of an emergency “Plan B.”
We started the day innocently enough: huddling in the quaint, warm atmosphere of Rembrandt’s Coffee House in Eagle where many a quiche, breakfast burrito, sweet roll and coffee bean were sacrificed for the greater good. Personally, I’ve never been much of a coffee guy, but I worry my tryst that morning with Rembrandt’s white chocolate and Mexican mochas may have led me down an irreversible course of frothy, caffeinated indulgence.
Just before a deep food coma laid claim to us all, it was time to head to Fast Lane Indoor Kart Racing for some lighthearted, inter-office competition. Well, it was supposed to be lighthearted, anyway. In the end, several misjudged corners, wall strikes and other high speed “accidents” had more than a couple of us hobbling away with sore hips and rib cages that, three weeks later, are still painfully reminding us of our fun on the course. Prospective racers beware: those karts are fast – unless your name is Becki and you dare only to nudge the pedal a quarter of the way to the floor, getting lapped 10-12 times in the process. (Sorry, Beck.) That said, racing the karts was a blast and even the casualties among us would happily jump in the driver’s seat again for more action on the track.
Celebrating victories and licking our wounds, we were off to the lower-impact fun awaiting us in the lanes (and kegs) of Westy’s Garden Lanes bowling alley. There’s something both exhilarating and distressing about slipping your feet into some size 9’s that have seen maybe a thousand other feet and ten times that number of “little piggies” in their time. The act requires a good deal of faith in Lysol, for one, but once the laces are tight you know you’re in for a good time. Personal records for both highest – and lowest – ever scores were set but in the end, the scores didn’t matter in the least – strikes, splits, spares, and an increasing amount of gutter balls as the day wore on were just background noise. Better to keep track of the high-fives, laughs and even the generous number of hugs (also occurring increasingly as the day wore on) with an amazing group of friends I’m thankful and proud to work with every day.
CLM | Oct 31, 2011
